The Working Stiffs answer to the ultimate steak. For those of you that don't frequent fancy steak houses this is a great option.
This is not a new post but an addendum to an older post called Crazy Sous-Vide Meat Aging Experiment. In my original post I experimented with Warm Aging using Sous-Vide cooking techniques (and science) and Dry-Aging using Fish sauce. Both experiments were wildly successful but I wanted to take it a step further and combine both.
The Fish Sauce Dry-Aging approach creates a steak that is sublime and brings out the ultimate Umami characteristics that you would only find in a Dry-Aged steak. So what does that mean exactly? When you use Fish Sauce to Dry-Age beef you get serious Beefy flavor that is otherwise found in conventional Dry-Aged beef. Additionally genuine Dry-Age Beef provides the added benefit of tenderization. However the fish sauce approach does not accomplish this but Warm Aging does. So I thought it would be cool to combine both techniques and produce an ultimate steak. Mission accomplished!!!
If you want a lot of details read the original post above. Here I will give a short snippet of what I did.
Fish Sauce Aging applied (brushed on) at 3%. The steak was vacuumed sealed and refrigerated for 3 days. I.E if the steak weighed 1000 grams I would use 30 grams of Fish sauce.
If you want a lot of details read the original post above. Here I will give a short snippet of what I did.
Fish Sauce Aging applied (brushed on) at 3%. The steak was vacuumed sealed and refrigerated for 3 days. I.E if the steak weighed 1000 grams I would use 30 grams of Fish sauce.
When you're ready warm up your Sous-Vide to 104 f degrees and submerge your steak. The steak must sit in this mildly warm bath for 90 minutes.
Now comes the choice. After the 90 min thermal bath crank up the Sous-Vide to your desired temp. I personally like 131 f for 3 hours. But you could choose something entirely different. More time/less time and even a higher/lower temp if you want. You could also decided to warm age but finish with a reverse sear. It all works.
At this point I always Ice/Cold shock the steaks to use later on in that day or a day or two later. This helps reduce the graying gradient that would happen during the sear.
My initial thoughts after removing the steak from the bag were as follows. Very pleasant beefy smell. Surprise surprise no fish smell.
After the steak was removed from the bag I dried it off very well and added a custom rub that included a touch of brown sugar and just a little more salt. Note: it needs very little salt at this juncture because the fish already contains salt.
After Sear- I knew right away that this process is very special. There was no fish smell. Very pleasing strong beef smell and taste. Extremely pleasing to the palate and as expected very tender.
UPDATE 4/02/17- Depending on the thickness of the steak I am finding that 1.75-2.25% Fish Sauce is adequate.
I very much appreciate all that detail other people get impatient with! I just tried the warm aging on a store-bought Flat Iron steak. I went with 102 for 1 hour, then 120 for 1 hour. Then 133 for 7 more hours. I would say the result tasted like a fine Sirloin!
ReplyDeleteThat got me very interested in warm aging, and I've never even heard of the Fish Sauce tip! So I read all your linked articles (except for the white-paper), and was fascinated. We can only afford cheap beef, and my first sous vide departure was some $3 small bottom round steaks made into French Dip. I went 132 in a cup of broth for 12 hours, and they were astonishing! (The bread rolls matter!) Now I, too, am thinking about combining warm aging with the tough round steak. And, of course, the Flat Iron. Just regular sous vide cooking with a Chuck Eye steak, 135 for 8 hours, produced pretty much a good quality Rib-eye flavor, texture, and taste. Your above article is exactly what I needed to figure out what the heck I should try. I also like the note that the 2nd-stage of warm aging may lead to the off-tastes. I'll try the 102-degrees for 90 minutes and see. Thank you!
Second Comment because this is such a definitive site on warm aging. :-)
ReplyDeleteHere's my thinking, now tested: Dry aging starts with unmodified meat, using only cold temperature. The two main enzymes start speeding up at 103F and deactivate at around 120, but there aren't (yet) any curves on a gaph. From reading, one enzyme continues above 120F, but it leads to a slightly bitter aftertaste. Consensus is to combine each temperature, and go 3 or 3-1/2 hours at a median 113F.
Many people post about "instant aging" a steak by covering it in salt for awhile, then washing off the salt. I've tried that, and can't tolerate the salt, even when it's washed off. Fish Sauce (anchovy) is mostly salt. Modernist Cooking suggests a "short cut" by using the fish sauce. Additionally; if you pre-sear the meat, I suspect the heat would speed up the deactivation of the aging enzymes. But I like pre-searing.
Logically, the salt only brines the meat, reducing internal water. "Aging" would just be cooking with less internal water, so faster cooking. I chose some 1/2" thick Eye of Round steaks, as the cheapest, worst possible steaks. I went with 113F for 3 hours. Then; while increasing the water to 132F, I took the steaks out of the bag and did my pre-sear. I then used 2% per weight of the meat of fish sauce. Previous trial with 3% was too salty for my taste. I brushed it on the warm aged, seared meat. I replaced the steaks in the bag, then went 8 hours sous vide at the 132F.
When dinner was ready, I took out the steaks. There was a fair amount of liquid in the bag (3 small round steaks). I then post-seared and served. I noticed the juice in the bag still had a slight aroma of the fish sauce, but didn't taste of it. I reduced that liquid in the pan, and served it over the sliced steaks. The steaks were very tender, moist, and had a taste and texture similar to a strip steak. I would use leftovers for Philly Cheese sandwiches or just steak sandwiches without reservation. This is the first time in my life I've actually enjoyed eating round steak as just the steak, with baked potato. Amazing!
Conclusion: The fish sauce is adding salt to the meat, but in my opinion does nothing to "age" the meat. The infusion of the salt likely is better than rock salt, being the anchovy liquid might permeate the meat better. The slight fish taste "may" help somewhat with a more complex flavor, but isn't aging anything. Instead, the combined 102 and 120F degree enzymatic action did a fine job of changing the meat texture. I've previously done round steak in two phases prior to the long cook, and I "feel" as though the single, combined 3 hours at 113F either was just as good, or perhaps better. Certainly easier to work with. It also seems to me, from trying countless recipes, that people nowadays have a vastly higher tolerance for salt than I remember, growing up. I'd rather go light, then salt at the table for individual preferences. I also think I'll abandon the fish sauce as just another step that doesn't seem to be worth it. Thanks again, for the work you do and the fine blog!
Thanks for sharing. Sous vide cooker is definitely the best investment I've made this year. Now I can cook steak to perfect every time.
ReplyDelete